History draft; handwriting of , John L. Smith, Jonathan Grimshaw, Robert L. Campbell, , , and ; 101 numbered pages plus several inserted pages; CHL. This manuscript covers the period from 1 March 1843 to 31 December 1843.
The . of has granted <Issued> a writ in the same manner that did, and it is now held in . <as a cudgel over my head.> I was told by the Attorney that the Gov. of had no jurisdiction after the decision of the supreme Court. <and that all writs thus issued were legally dead.> Appeals have been made to , but although he has no plausible excuse, he is not willing to kill that writ or to take it back; I will, therefore advise you to serve them a trick that the devil never did, i e, come away and leave them—come into , pay taxes in , and let them <Iowegians> take their own course. I dont care whether you come away or not. I do not wish to control you, but if you wish for my advise, I would say, let every man as soon as he conveniently can, come over here, for you can live in peace with us; we are all Green Mountain boys; Southerners, Northerners, Westerners, and every other kind of ers, and will treat you well. <and let that know, that we dont like to Be imposed upon—>
In relation to , it has been supposed that I made a great bargain with a certain great man there. A person from them <there> came to me in the beginning of August last, a stranger, and <came to my house,> put on a very long face, and stated that he was in great distress; that he was a stranger in this place, <> and having understood that I was benevolent, he had come to me for help. He said that he was about to lose $1,400 of property <at Sheriff’s sale> for $300 in cash; that he had money in which he expected in two or three days; that the sale would take place the next day, and that he wanted to hire some money for two or three days. I thought of <on> the subject over night, and he came the next morning for an answer. <I did not like the looks of this man but thought I, he is a stranger> I then reflected upon the situation that I had frequently been placed in, and that I had often been a stranger in a strange land, and whenever I had called <asked> for assistance I had obtained it, and it may be that he is an honest man; and if I turn him away I shall be guilty of the sin of ingratitude. I therefore concluded to loan him $200, in good faith, sooner than be guilty of ingratitude. He gave me his note for the same, and said ‘whenever you call on me you shall have the money.’ Soon after, <when> I was taken with a <’s> writ, and <I> asked him for the money, but he answered, ‘I have not got it, <from you ought to have it> but shall have it in a few days.’ He then said, ‘since I saw you, a project has entered my mind, which I think may be profitable both for you and me.’ ‘I propose deeding to you all the property which deeded to you, <I will give you a deed for all the Land you bought of ,> which is twenty thousand acres, you paid the notes and ought to have them, they are in my hands <as his >, and I will give them up.’ ‘I also propose deeding to you, one half of my right to all my land in the , and all I ask is, for you to give your influence to help to build up .’ I answered, ‘I have not asked for your property, I dont want it, and would not give a snap of my finger for it, but I will receive the papers, and if I find it as you say, I will use my influence to build up the place; but I wont give you any thing for the land. I <&> told him I wanted the $200; <which is due me> he went to make the papers <made out the deeds & gave them to me & I got them recorded>, and he gave up the notes except a few. I then said to , if you go there with the brethren, I will give you the property. <but he would not accept it.> I then let the same gentleman have some cloth. <to the amount of 6 or 700 $> He began soon after to tell the brethren what obligations I was under to him. I then wrote him a letter on the subject, and <but> I have since found that he is swindling, and that there is no prospect of getting any thing from him. He is owing <me> about $1100. <&> I thought it my duty to publish his rascality, that the might do the same in that territory, and prevent the brethren from being imposed upon. He has got a writing to the <this> effect, that if he <owned as much as he pretended &> did as he said, I would <give my influence to build up ,> build the place, and on no other terms. His name is . He took this plan to swindle me out of money, <cloth> boards, &c.
John L. Smith handwriting ends; printed text begins. The text on this page should be included at the place indicated on page 12 with “see proof sheet.”
All cancellations and insertions on this page are in the handwriting of Thomas Bullock.